From the exploration of Taoxianda's one-hour delivery business in March 2018, to the entry of platforms like Meituan, Ele.me, and JD.com, and to the emergence of various new models today, the instant retail industry has gone through seven years of development. In Chinese traditional culture, the number 'seven' is full of mystical significance, and 'when it reaches seven, change is inevitable.' Looking back at these seven years, from the initial growth of new channels, to deep connections with brand owners, retailers, and distributors, and to today's scenario-based marketing, instant retail has continuously iterated and innovated, gradually becoming an all-encompassing 'marketing + sales' new ecosystem. Standing at the present, from the two dimensions of channel value and industry ecosystem, what new changes does instant retail have in this era? What are the future trends? Next, I will use three keywords to share the thoughts and insights of Heyin Network, which has been deeply engaged in instant retail since 2018, hoping to inspire everyone. First Keyword: Co-Integration What kind of ecosystem is co-integration? This Spring Festival, there was a phenomenal topic—the movie 'Ne Zha 2', which has already reached the top five in global box office rankings. Do you know how many companies collaborated behind 'Ne Zha 2'? 138! The success of the movie 'Ne Zha 2' is the result of the collaboration of 138 companies. Co-integration is this kind of ecosystem-based cooperation model. Different forces can unite for a common goal, thereby unleashing new productivity. Similarly, in the instant retail industry, the capability of a single enterprise is limited. The industry needs to achieve systematic capability improvement through co-integration to cope with the complex and ever-changing market environment. After seven years of development, the instant retail industry has transformed from a simple channel concept to a deep connection between brands, platforms, and consumers. The construction of a co-integrated ecosystem can provide the entire industry with stronger resilience and sustainable development capabilities. Next, I will use a concrete thing—'bills'—to share the value of co-integration. The development of the retail industry can be understood through the evolution of 'bills'. Bills are not only records of consumer behavior but also important tools for the industry to gain insights into consumer needs and scenarios. Let's review the three stages of bill evolution: Stage 1: Offline Era (1997-), where KA hypermarkets and chain supermarkets became the market mainstream. In the era of offline channel rise, large supermarkets and chain stores entered China, and bills recorded consumers' shopping basket information. Through these bills, we can analyze what products consumers purchased, the value of the shopping basket, and the associations between different products and categories. Stage 2: E-commerce Era (2008-), where e-commerce platforms like Tmall and Taobao rose strongly. With the booming development of e-commerce, the dimensions of bills further enriched. Electronic bills began to record consumer profiles, including their shopping habits, search preferences, and interests. Based on this data, platforms like Alibaba and JD.com proposed funnel theories from conversion to purchase, further optimizing online operation models. Stage 3: Instant Retail Era (2018-), where instant retail platforms like Taoxianda, Meituan Flash Purchase, Ele.me, and JD Daojia rose. Instant retail bills are richer and more complex than ever before. In addition to basic shopper information, bills also include dimensions such as scenario, time, and emotion. For example, is the consumer's order for a family dining scenario? Or an office overtime scenario? Or for an outing? Or a gift for a friend? Consumer needs and motivations change with different scenarios. This scenario-based information provides new insights for the operation and marketing of instant retail. The scenario characteristics of instant retail determine that it is not only a channel model but also an ecosystem model. Behind every instant retail bill, there is a specific consumption scenario. Through these scenario-based data, brands and platforms can more accurately understand consumer needs and achieve more efficient marketing through joint operations. From this dimension, it can be seen that co-integration is not only the core of instant retail development but also the key to future industry ecosystem upgrades. Through co-integration, brands, platforms, and consumers can form closer connections, driving the entire industry towards a more open and collaborative direction. Second Keyword: Demand-Pull Supply The second core keyword of instant retail is 'demand-pull supply'. By stimulating scenario-based demand, it promotes precise responses from the supply side, thereby more efficiently meeting consumer needs. The closed-loop logic is: demand—supply—supply-demand matching. Based on this chain, Heyin Network has done three things: 1. Build a brand micro-scenario strategy to precisely target the target audience. The advantage of instant retail is that it can build a 'micro-scenario matrix' through deep insights into consumer scenarios. This matrix subdivides consumption scenarios and provides precise products and services for each subdivided scenario. For example, we collaborated with a beer brand to design a micro-scenario matrix for the 'home gathering' scenario. Through data analysis and consumer research, we found that in the home gathering scenario, consumers' demand for beer is not only the beverage itself but also includes multi-level needs such as table pairing and atmosphere creation. Based on these insights, we formulated more targeted product combinations and marketing strategies for the brand. The role of the micro-scenario matrix is that it not only clarifies demand but also provides a scientific basis for the brand's sales operations, platform operations, and channel operations. 2. Establish an all-platform supply-demand compass for street-level precise supply-demand operations. Instant retail orders contain information such as geographical location, which provides opportunities for brands to optimize supply. Heyin Network has specially developed a 'supply-demand compass' to help brands more efficiently match supply by analyzing the concentration of consumer demand in a certain street or area. It mainly solves three problems: First, who are the consumers and where are they? Second, what are the consumer needs and what products should be matched? Third, through online and offline operations, maximize the matching of supply and demand. For example, in a specific block of a city, if consumers have strong demand for a certain product but supply is insufficient, the supply-demand compass can quickly identify this problem and guide the brand to adjust its supply strategy. Through supply-demand matching based on geographical concentration, it provides strong support for the efficient operation of instant retail. 3. Combine AI to achieve a supply-demand gravity revolution. This year, Heyin Network has deeply co-created with Deep Seek to analyze the changes that will occur in the demand-pull supply of the entire instant retail industry three years later. With the development of AI technology, instant retail is ushering in a 'supply-demand gravity revolution'. Whether consumers' needs in specific scenarios can be met in the first time will become the key to brand competition. The traditional funnel-shaped consumer decision-making chain has gradually collapsed. In instant retail, consumers' decision-making chain is shorter and faster. This means that brands need to more keenly capture scenario needs and meet consumers' immediate needs through precise supply. Third Keyword: Supply Determined by Demand 'Supply determined by demand' is one of the core logics for the future development of instant retail. To emphasize, the 'supply' here does not refer to the supply mentioned earlier, but to the supply chain. Through keen insight into consumer needs, to respond to the changing needs of consumers at different times and in different scenarios, to predict what the connection points between brands and consumers are, and thus quickly adjust supply chain strategies to achieve flexibility and agility in supply, this is supply determined by demand. Taking brand new product launches as an example, Heyin Network has created a 'New Product Bible' to quickly test new products through the method of supply determined by demand. The traditional new product testing chain often has long cycles and high uncertainty. From production to distribution, and then to consumers, this process is full of various risks, such as the product hype passing, consumers not recognizing it, and poor terminal distribution. Brands do not know whether a new product will succeed, but in order to get the new product into channels, they have to use the traditional model to lay out all channels. If it succeeds, everyone is happy; if it fails, the cost paid is extremely high. Let me share a set of data: in China, the number of new products that can achieve sales of more than 500 million is less than 100 per year. So a large number of new products are created by brands, but due to unclear consumer insights and inability to distribute agilely, they eventually die. Based on this insight, Heyin Network has launched the 'New Product Bible' tool, which provides a brand-new solution for brand owners' new product testing in instant retail:

  1. Demand radar insight: By integrating omni-channel consumption data, build a dynamic demand preheating model, identify consumption heat maps and category gaps, avoid the lag of traditional market research, and achieve 'precise trial and error'.
  2. Lightning warehouse matrix breakthrough: Establish a three-level network of 'central warehouse + front warehouse + cloud warehouse', reaching county-level areas nationwide within 72 hours. Through a combination of tactics, achieve low cost, effective high coverage, and immediate conversion, breaking traditional distribution levels, opening up the online and offline traffic loop, and realizing 'from regional explosive products to national scenario explosion'.
  3. Data flywheel drive: Real-time monitoring of sell-through data, establish AB testing mechanisms, test gradient pricing mechanisms in different regions, optimize marketing material combinations, and iterate different channel strategies. Enable brand owners to complete market validation of new products in the short term, shortening the traditional new product cycle by 60%.
  4. Channel momentum stacking: In KA channels, create 'new product experience zones + joint promotion campaigns'; in BC channels, use digital systems to achieve automated replenishment and intelligent display, opening up the online and offline traffic loop, and achieving the leap from 'regional explosive products to national shelf dominance'. Brands can quickly push new products to target consumers through instant retail channels and understand consumer feedback through precise data analysis. Final Thoughts Instant retail is changing the landscape of the retail industry at an astonishing speed. From 2018 to 2025, seven years of development have witnessed the profound transformation of this industry from a channel model to an ecosystem model. The future of instant retail will continue to grow, but for brand owners, it is no longer about simple and crude natural growth, but truly refined operations. In this process, there are three very important things. First, breakthrough in mind-share operation capability: Originally, brands studied operations and products, but they did not reach mind-share operation. However, with scenarios, it is possible to precisely reach out with advertising. Through digital technology, achieve precise reach and awakening of consumer mind-share. Second, cell-level channel management: Truly achieving channel management at the granularity of cells, which should be communities and buildings. Only with these aggregated consumers can there be strong and clear insights, and can supply and distribution channels truly generate product value. Third, flexible supply chain co-integration: China's FMCG supply chain is very strong, but brands need to truly integrate flexible supply chains with their own supply chains to provide the products that consumers will most need in the future. Finally, to summarize with a sentence: 'When data begins to generate warmth, when mind-share begins to generate soul, when supply begins to generate wisdom, we will jointly create a new era of retail.' The future of instant retail belongs to those enterprises and ecosystem partners that can embrace co-integration, demand-pull supply, and supply determined by demand.